In late 1944, after a harrowing, hour-long chase through the Surigao Strait under relentless assault from Japanese aircraft, the three brand-new American Sumner-class destroyers reached their target: Ormoc Bay. Already battered by a barrage from their aerial adversaries, these destroyers stormed one of the most heavily fortified ports in the Pacific theater. It was as close as the Americans would get to a full-blown kamikaze mission. Their orders were stark: annihilate as many enemy ships, military assets, supply depots, and personnel as possible.

The state-of-the-art American ships faced an unprecedented onslaught of enemy fire upon arrival. The Japanese unleashed their entire arsenal, plunging the destroyers into a maelstrom of attacks from shore, sea, air, and beneath the waves. If the destroyers' armor held just a bit longer, they would wreak havoc at the port.

But fate had other plans. A well-aimed torpedo from a Japanese submarine struck true. American sailor Earl H. Taylor had just begun to load a gun when he heard a dull thud followed by someone screaming: (QUOTE) “We've been hit!”.

The detonation ripped open USS Cooper amid a towering column of fire and black smoke. The power failed, and the lights went out. Taylor and hundreds of other sailors fought to abandon the ship as they had been ordered. Twisted metal and surging water engulfed her crew. Yet, many remained manning their posts, firing her guns until the very second she was swallowed by the sea.

One American destroyer was lost, but two remained, and their crews were determined not to falter. The Battle of Ormoc Bay was about to take the Pacific theater of war by storm.

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